Brecklynn Lopez and Scarlett Miller pack gift boxes for Operation Christmas Child at the Tarkio Presbyterian Church.

The Sunday school children at the Tarkio Presbyterian Church packed gift boxes for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child on Sunday, October 23, 2022. Brecklynn Lopez, Zaiden Miller, Scarlett Miller, and Brynleigh Lopez organized the gifts and put them into boxes to send to children in need around the world.

Sunday school students at Tarkio Presbyterian Church filled shoe boxes for children around the world Sunday. The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way. Through this project, Samaritan’s Purse partners with the local church worldwide to share the Good News of Jesus Christ and make disciples of the nations.

In the summer of 1993, Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham received a call from a man in England asking if he’d be willing to fill shoe boxes with gifts for children in war-torn Bosnia. Franklin agreed, but figured Christmas was months away. He forgot about the promise until he received a call back around Thanksgiving asking about the gifts. Franklin asked his friend, the late Pastor Ross Rhoads of Calvary Church of Charlotte to see if he could help with the need. A Sunday shortly afterward, Pastor Rhoads demonstrated for his congregation how to fill a shoe box with simple gifts and encouraged them to include a letter to the child as well. Within weeks, the church had 11,000 shoe boxes lining their hallways. Due to their generosity and additional gifts from Canada, Samaritan’s Purse sent 28,000 shoe box gifts to children in the Balkans that Christmas. Through these gifts, donors communicated to children and their families what the angel said to the shepherds about Jesus’ birth: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

Every year since, Samaritan’s Purse has collected shoe box gifts filled with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items for children around the world. Since 1993, more than 198 million children in more than 170 countries and territories have received an Operation Christmas Child shoe box. The project delivers not only the joy of what, for many kids, is their first gift ever, but also gives them a tangible expression of God’s love. Tens of thousands of volunteers from local churches around the world meet to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ at festive outreach events where children are surprised with these shoe box gifts.